Caffeinated posts from an ACD/Copywriter. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland.
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Monday, September 26, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Animals help out in butter ad ]

+ Grey Advertising has created a somewhat Disney-esque ad for Dairy Crest's Country Life Spreadable butter with the help of Outsider Films, directors Dom and Nic, and animation from Framestore CFC. (scroll down to view the ad - in QT)
Saturday, September 24, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Stop & Shop & Mullen ]

+ Mullen's new ads for Stop & Shop will break on Monday. It's funny in a way because I've not read, heard or seen any supermarket ads in ages in this area. Maybe it's because I'm not listening at the right times or what, but it's been a couple years at least since I've last seen a tv spot or heard a radio campaign. The three-part "Solved" campaign is targeted at moms, and will continue at least through the end of the year, according to Judi Palmer, Stop & Shop's senior director of customer marketing. Interesting...Stop & Shop is owned by Royal Ahold NV of the Netherlands...didn't know that. Sort of funny because their biggest competitor (or one of them) in this area is Shaw's Supermarkets which is owned by Sainsbury in England. Kinda weird.

[ :: adgruntie :: Sears is cool? ]

+ Y&R breaks new campaign for Sears. Ad descriptions:

Shot in July and early August and launched after Labor Day, one of the ads features rapid-fire editing, split screens and percussion music that mostly zeroes in on appliances, digital cameras and other Sears strengths. A second ad, featuring time-lapsed photography, focuses on appliances as well as such soft goods as towels and dog beds.
But the ad most incongruous to what Sears traditionally represents in retail is a clothing ad that features young love blossoming over several months.
The spot, featuring a pop song by the Pernice Brothers and set in the early fall as it unfolds, shows a brunette woman walking down the street in her layered sleeveless tops. Through the magic of technology the woman appears in different outfits as the season gets colder and the leaves fall.
Meanwhile, a man who starts out as a passerby early in the spot ends up as her significant other by the time she's bundled up in her new coat.

One thing that I always find strange about fashion retailers is...well check out this quote:

"We wanted to make sure that people know, without saying `fall,' that it's getting cooler, and that's a reason to change your wardrobe," Case said. "And they think of Sears as a cool place."

Don't people know it's getting colder? How stupid do you think your consumers are if you have to remind them that summer weather is ending and it's going to get colder? I also think that they are asking way, way too much for people to think of Sears as "a cool place". It's just not going to happen.

These ads use "Cooler Every Day" as a tagline for the campaign which will go away in November when the holiday ads start airing.

[ :: adgruntie :: Readers rate ads ]

+ Readers rate ads from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

If there was an overriding theme to this year's responses, it's how bleak the advertising landscape seems to be these days. To be sure, people's memories tend to be selective, leaving the impression that advertising, like everything else, was so much better back when.

Still, it was remarkable how little advertising is favorably catching the public's eye, ear and mind (when it's not actively repulsing them, that is). That ought to be of some concern to the companies who are paying for these ads, and may not be getting much for the bucks they're spending.

Sheer repetition has something to do with the reaction; one reader said advertisers "should learn about the law of diminishing returns." So does the audio volume, a complaint mentioned numerous times.

But a bigger problem seems to be the quality of the ads. Others might not have expressed it quite so forcefully, but to judge from the e-mails and letters, lots of readers in this year's survey would agree with one who said "I am afflicted with ad rage that makes road rage look like a petty snit."

Monday, September 19, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Advertising in Amsterdam ]

+ A world of expertise at home in Amsterdam - An article on advertising agencies in Amsterdam, where small shops are stealing clients and employees away from the big honchos in NYC and London.

[ :: adgruntie :: How to connect to consumers ]

+ An interesting article on connecting to consumers from the Independent.

Corporations seek a "competitive" edge over the competition. Increasingly, their answer is to attempt to build long-term "emotional" relationships between brands and consumers. Brands are becoming "involved" in peoples' lives as never before. It's as Confucius said: "Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I will remember. Involve me, and I will understand."
In this new thinking, the conventional tactics using television, radio, press and posters amount to didactic messages from advertisers to consumers. One-way messages talk at people, not with people. And people are sick of being talked at.
But emotional links can be created by developing "dialogue" between brands and consumers, crediting people with intelligence and encouraging participation.

I can't argue with this. In fact I really agree with it. Although I do think that there are ways using the traditional media to accomplish some, but not all, of the emotional/entertainment/etc that has been relegated to only viral or WOM or whatever.

The rest of the article goes on to tout the "glorious" properties of WOM and viral. I have yet to be totally won over by either of these myself. Yes, they can be very effective, I won't argue that. But, they also can fail. What happens when you start a WOM campaign and the product or service can't live up to the praise your actors are shilling? What happens when you think you'll just create a viral but the concept is lame and no one cares to pass it along? Just because it's viral or WOM doesn't guarantee success. There still has to be a solid idea behind it...or in the case of WOM...a solid product or benefit that actually works and is liked by people.

The other thing that I have to wonder about in regards to WOM is what will consumers think when they find out that they are being deceived by actors - paid to talk up a product and pretending to be some ordinary Joe Schmo on the street? I've yet to hear of any backlash or an OK feeling on this. But I do think that it could have the potential to do damage to a brand that is trying to create a bond with a possible or current consumer. The article talks about building relationships, but when they are built on deceit, and eventually found out, can it be a lasting one?
Monday, September 12, 2005
[ :: media :: Importance of Placement ]

+ Placement is important. And that includes the other ads surrounding the creative. The juxtaposition of these billboards are priceless. (via Dabitch)

[ :: adgruntie :: Make Poverty History ads banned ]

+ Ofcom has banned radio and TV ads for Make Poverty History. It ruled the ads are political in nature breaching guidelines because it's not a charity.
Friday, September 09, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Dove wins Metro poll for best ad ]

+ The Metro has published the results of a reader poll of all its readers in 15 countries about the best print ad in their papers. The winner? Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty.

An initial shortlist was created by a judging panel including Mark Austin and Tom Denford from Mediaedge:cia, Mark Robinson at Vizeum and Pelle Tornberg, the chief executive of Metro International. Readers then picked from this shortlist of 10 which also included runners up Adidas, Ikea and Spirou & Fantasio.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Arnold loses VW ]

+ Yesterday it was announced that Arnold Worldwide lost the VW account to Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Not good. The Boston ad market really hasn't come back the way a lot of other places around the country have or at least have started. And to make matters worse, Ed Eskandarian, chief executive, yesterday said the loss of the Volkswagen account will result in layoffs.

He's hoping to be able to move the majority of 100+ fulltime and partime folks who worked on the account to other accounts, but even with their recent wins of RadioShack and ESPN Mobile, I'm not sure how many jobs they can save.

The biggest problem I see for the ad biz in this area is that there are so few new accounts being won from elsewhere. A lot of accounts won in the last couple of years have only moved one account from one local agency to another. To bring back the jobs to the area and keep a balance, they need to get some big accounts from outside to maintain the balance of jobs disappearing from the large client loses. And that's just not happening.
Monday, September 05, 2005
[ :: Karma :: Another way to help out ]

+ DisplacedDesigner.com is aiming to help all the displaced designers/art/illustrators and other creative types displaced by the hurricane. They are hoping to help find work spaces and sleeping spaces to help these folks rebuild their lives and keep their businesses running. (via Adland)

[ :: sidetrack :: Proof PayPal Sucks ]

+ Adland points out that Something Awful raised donations over $20,000 to go to the Red Cross to help victims of Katrina. PayPal has closed the account, freezing the funds. Why? From SomethingAwful:

"we have received more than one report about suspicious behaviour from your buyers" says paypal. SA response: I AM NOT SELLING A SINGLE THING. What part of "donation" is difficult to understand? I even selected "donation" on Paypal's site when generating a link for this website.

Are you kidding me? Shit. This isn't funny at all. Apparently this is flying all over the internet community...hopefully it will get some media press too because this is unacceptable.

For more check out the adland link and SomethingAwful's site.
Friday, September 02, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Ad cliches ]

+ BBC Magazine lists some unwritten ad cliches by John Camm.

1. Men are obsessed with sex but will forego sex in order to watch football or drink beer.

2. Women are locked in a constant battle with their weight/body shape/hairstyle.

3. Career success is entirely based on your ability to impress your boss.

4. Mums are often harassed but NEVER depressed/unable to cope.

5. Any act of male stupidity (e.g. walking across a clean floor in muddy boots, putting the dog in the dishwasher, etc.) will be met with a wry smile, not genuine annoyance/anger.

6. Married men will flirt with other, younger women but NEVER act upon it.

7. Anyone with a scientific career will have a bad haircut and dreadful clothes.

8. If you work for the emergency services, you are a better person than the general population.

9. Elderly relatives NEVER suffer from senile dementia.

10. Scandinavians are, without exception, blonde and beautiful.

11. Women have jobs they never do in real life, e.g. dockworker (who looks like a model).

12. Children will not eat fruit or vegetables. Ever.

13. Both men and women find driving deeply pleasurable, never boring or stressful.

14. Men are inherently lazy/slobbish; women are the reverse.

15. Chocolate, however, will cause women to immediately fall into the languor of the opium eater.

16. High Street bank staff are (A) friends of the customers, and (B) of slightly above-average attractiveness (only if female).

17. Modern men own a cat.

18. Hot beverages have miraculous rejuvenating effects.

19. Professional people have strangely trivial preoccupations, e.g. a female barrister who is morbidly obsessed with finding a healthy snack bar.

20. All women (except stay-at-home housewives) have interesting and enjoyable careers.

21. Any over-the-counter medical product will work instantly and 100% effectively.

22. Children know more than adults.

23. Women never merely hop in and out of the shower, instead preferring to act out some sort of soapy Dance of the Seven Veils.

24. School is a happy experience for all children.

25. Tortilla chips are the most exciting experience any group of young people can experience.

26. Playing bingo is THE number one pastime among 18-25 year old British women.

This makes me think of the list of overused ideas in the adforum at Adland.

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